Mimi's Play Dough

I came across a large canister filled with flour, and me being me struggled to just throw it out. Why throw it out you ask? Well, if I had to take a guess the flour in this canister was at least 6 years old and it was just plain ol’ all-purpose white flour which I don’t use anymore anyway, so…throwing it seemed to be the right option.  Well I sat staring at the flour thinking of all the things I could use it for (I even sent texts my friends to see if they could use it for anything), since it was too old to use for food my mind was instantly thinking crafts.  I thought of homemade modge podge, paper mache, salt dough…then I looked over at my son, sitting at the kitchen table sifting through his poor selection of play dough. My mind was made up…PLAY DOUGH! And of course my little helper was eager to help.

Now you can go on Pinterest and find oodles of different play dough recipes, but I am sticking with my mom’s recipe that she used when I was a kid. (I posted something a few years ago, you can see it here.) I am Gluten-Free, my son is not, and so making the dough using regular flour wasn't a concern for me. BUT, if you child is Gluten-Free then I would substitute the flour; use rice or even GF oat flour. I personally haven’t tried it using other flours but I would assume it would work fine.  (Here is a site called Creative with Kids that shares her gluten free play dough recipe.)

Mimi’s Play Dough

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tbsp. oil

2 cups water

Food coloring*

Mix all the ingredients in a large pot. Stir and cook over medium heat until the mix pulls away from the sides. Constantly stir! This is an arm workout.  (*If you want to have all one color, add the food coloring to the water and mix in while heating.  If you want multiple colors, once you take the dough out of the pot, divide the dough and knead the food coloring in.)

Once the dough is formed, put on wax paper and knead until smooth.  Store in an airtight container (nothing metal), you could even use old empty play dough containers.

He wanted multiple colors, and we were short on food coloring so the only color he wanted that he wasn't able to get was purple; maybe next time.  We added the food coloring in at the kneading stage, and I let him do the kneading.  You may need to add more coloring as you go if you want a more vibrant color.  

Now go play!

GAK!

First of all, for those who don't know gak; gak is basically a cross between Silly Puddy and the Slime you used to play with as a kid.  It is slimy, stretchy, pliable, as my sons says "melty", it's wet but dry at the same time. I can be less messy then play dough (as long as you don't just let it sit on fabric or on a surface for too long, because it will "melt" onto the surface.)

The Recipe

2 - 4 oz. bottles of Elmers Glue (you can use the clear or classic, I used the classic)

1 tsp Borax

Warm water

Food Coloring

Pour the glue into a large bowl, fill the empty bottles with warm water, shake and pour into the bowl. Add food coloring (more that you think, I thought I used a lot but as you can see it isn't very vibrant.) Add an additional 1/2 cup of warm water, and the borax.  Stir into the glue mix, stir for a bit then get our hands in it.  Knead/blend until you can form a ball.  There will be a lot of liquid left in the bowl, that is normal.  Remove the glob ball, when it is not being played with store in a zip top bag or plastic container with a tight lid.

Peacock Feather Earrings

If you follow me on Pinterest, then you may have seen my pin regarding Peacock Feather earrings.  The original post was by Simply Allis. So while having a craft day with a friend and neighbor, I decided to give them a shot.  I had and still have a bunch of peacock feathers that my mom gave me a long time ago, seriously it was probably sometime in high school, how they have lasted this long one only knows. (I am sure the age of the feathers is why the long strands look a little battered.)  I debated on trimming the feathers but as you can see I didn't.



What I used; peacock feathers, earring hooks, crimps, thread, modge podge (love that stuff!), thin jewelry wire.  I started by cutting and trimming the feather so I had a nice shape, then I stripped a little of the feathers off the quill leaving about an inch. (Sorry I don't have pictures showing the process.) I took the wire and threaded it through the earring hook so that about an inch of the wire hung from the hook, (it should be folded in half looking like two pieces hanging.) Take a crimp and slide the wires through it, but do not crimp yet!  Take the feather and carefully put the quill between the wire and in the crimp. Using pliers, crimp until snug.  I then took blue thread and dipped in modge podge, and wrapped the quill and wires.  Hang to dry. There you go.

I recently cut my hair, and think I like the way they looked with longer hair better but, that is ok I will wear them any way!

Original earrings from Simply Allis

And FYI...I could pull them off!